Beekeeping popular in Czech Republic – and now buzzing in Prague

Czechs have a reputation as beer-lovers, but not everyone knows that they
are extremely fond of honey. In fact, the Czech Republic has one of the
highest numbers of beekeepers in the world and many of them are located
right in the center of Prague.

Photo: Jitka Cibulová Vokatá
The pollen season in the Czech Republic is in full swing and while it may
be annoying for those who suffer from pollen allergies, beekeepers, and
their bees, are rejoicing. The Czech Beekeepers' Association to date
registers around 53,000 beekeepers in the country, with around 600 of them
in the Czech capital. And according to the association, their numbers
gradually keep growing.

Dalibor Titěra is the head of the research department at the Czech
beekeeping Institute:

“Beekeeping in the Czech Republic has had a long tradition. The number
of beekeepers and bee colonies per one square meters is one of the highest,
perhaps even the highest, in Europe. What is typical for Czech beekeeping
is that we mostly consider it a hobby. Czech beekeepers have around ten bee
colonies on average. They keep them for pleasure, to make honey for
themselves and their families.”

According to Mr Titěra, there have always been beekeepers in Prague,
usually keeping their hives in one of the city’s many gardening colonies.
But in recent years, keeping bees in the city has become something of a
trend, and you can find them even in the very center of the capital, on the
rooves of shopping centers as well as on people’s terraces and balconies.

The luxury Intercontinental hotel, located in the very center of Prague,
offers its guests honey produced by its own bees, living in hives on the
hotel's roof. And bee colonies are also buzzing along the runway of
Prague's Václav Havel airport.

Even though Prague is known for having fairly high levels of air
pollution, Dalibor Titěra assures me that it definitely doesn't
affect the quality of local honey. In fact, he says, its quality is
comparable to that produced in the countryside:

“Some years ago, the agriculture and environment ministries commissioned
a very detailed survey, which involved taking samples from twenty
localities across the Czech Republic, including the ones with heavy air
pollution. It turned out that as concerns honey the difference between the
polluted localities didn't show. First of all, plants protect their
reproductive organs and secondly, bees can evidently filter the dirt.”

Dalibor Titěra, photo: archive of Radio Prague
Bees are quite undemanding in terms of maintenance and there are no
special requirements or limitations for their breeding. According to Mr
Titěra, you can place your hive pretty much anywhere you want to:

“The Czech laws only say that you shouldn't really bother your
neighbors, whatever that means. So if something happens, it’s up to a
court to deal with it. The Czech Beekeepers' Association is
responsible for breeding a so-called včela kraňská (a subspecies of the
western honey bee), which is very gentle and non-aggressive, as long as it
doesn't crossbreed with different species. So if someone breeds this
species with a ‘pedigree’, they can be sure that the next generation
will be nice as well.”

One of the Prague locals who have fallen for beekeeping is Robert Šulman.
A civil engineer by profession, he started with beekeeping only a couple of
years ago. Mr Šulman lives in Prague's district of Vyšehrad, just a
stones' throw from the city center. I met with him in a leafy garden
just round the corner from his apartment, where he keeps his hives.

Despite the time of the year, his hives were unusually quiet.
Unfortunately, most of his bees have fallen victim to the varoosis disease,
which has been destroying bee colonies across the whole world. Still, he
told me all about his beekeeping passion and how it all started.

“My colleague is a beekeeper in a small village outside of Prague and he
tried to convince me to become a beekeeper as well. But I told him it
wasn’t for me: I was a city boy and I didn’t really like birds or bees.

“But two years later I came across an article about an old guy who was
keeping hives on the roof of the Paris opera. He explained that it was good
to keep bees in the city, since there is plenty of trees and flowers even
in the summer, not just in spring.

“So I thought: if it’s possible to keep bees in Paris than it is
possible to keep them in Prague as well. So I approached the Czech
Beekeepers’ Association, but they were not very friendly, so in the end I
started just by myself, with the advice of my colleagues. I found two hives
in Moravia and brought them to Prague.”

“At that time, people were very surprised to see hives in the city. They
thought they had nothing to eat here. Now, five years later, when I talk to
my friends in the village, they tell me I am really lucky to have bees in
the city, because there are plenty of flowers, as you can see.

“In the countryside, the season is nearly over, because of the
monoculture agriculture, so the bees have only two months to feed.”

So you would say that the variety of plants and flowers is richer here
than in the city.

“Yes, paradoxically, it is better in the town these days.”

When you started, how difficult was it to set up the whole business and
how much did it actually cost?

“That’s two different questions. Keeping the hives is much better
these days than it was five or ten years ago. I discovered the Langstroth
system - a system of keeping hives, which is very practical and easy for
manipulation. It is the secret of old beekeepers.

“And the cost? There is actually a programme run by the European Union.
If you start with beekeeping, for the first ten hives you can get 10,000
crowns per each, which is quite a lot.

“But it’s not possible to earn a lot of money from ten hives. You
would need many more. So for me, it’s really just a hobby.”

How much honey do you actually produce per year?

“From this kind of hives I can get more than twenty kilos from one hive.
So you can count it. Now I have five hives, so that’s more than a hundred
kilo per year.”

So that’s more than enough for your own consumption…

“Yes, of course. I also have to say that I can recognise the taste of my
honey among many other honeys, because the taste of my honey is really
special. It’s a mix of the local trees and flowers, especially from the
park behind me, so it is really unique.”

“I like to have around six hives. When I take honey from them, it takes
me a whole day, from ten in the morning till ten in the evening. But on
average it takes me about half a day in the week during the high season, in
the springtime.

In the summer time, it is less. And in the autumn you need to feed them
and you have to check the hives about two times in September, but it is
really not that much.”

You said it wasn’t difficult to start with beekeeping. In terms of
bureaucracy, did you need any special permission to set up the hives?

“There is only one rule you must follow. You get a number for the State
Veterinary Association and you have to announce every year how many hives
you have and where they are located.”

When you were looking for a place to keep the hives, was it difficult to
find the right spot?

“Naturally you try to find the best place for your bees. As you can see,
this is under the trees, but it’s not right next to the walls. So in the
springtime, the sun can get through to the hives and in the summer, when it
is hot, it is covered by leaves. It cannot be anywhere windy or wet. And in
the city it must also be hidden from people’s eyes.”

Finally this was not a good year for beekeepers, so how much honey do you
expect to produce this year?

“This year I will have no honey because I have no hives except one. It
will be difficult this year to start again, because there is another kind
of disease - včelí mor (the plague of bee larvae). If you find this
disease in your hive, you must burn all of your bees.

“A guy from the opposite side of Prague has recently brought this
disease from his countryside hives to the city and all of the city’s bees
are now under quarantine. We cannot sell the hives and we have to ask the
vet for permission if we want to bring something inside the city.

Photo: Kristýna Maková
“So my friend has hives but he cannot bring them to me until the
laboratory tests prove that they are clean.”

But that definitely doesn't mean the end of your beekeeping, is that
right?